A “Content Delivery Network” (CDN) is made up of different devices connected via a communication network. These devices interwork in order to make contents available to client entities. Some of these devices, referred to as content delivery servers, are responsible for the actual delivery of the contents to the client entities. These content delivery servers are generally distributed in the communication network in order to optimize delivery costs. In a distribution network of this type, a request from a client entity is routed according to different criteria toward one of the devices responsible for the delivery.
A distribution network of this type may be associated with a specific access type, for example mobile or fixed, or with a specific network operator.
A need exists to interconnect content distribution networks.
The working document of the “Internet Engineering Task force” (IETF), referenced “draft-bertrand-cdni-experiments-00” and entitled “Content Distribution Network Interconnection Experiments”, presents test results relating to interconnection between two content distribution networks. More precisely, a usage case is presented, based on messages conforming to the “HyperText Transfer Protocol” (HTTP), in which, on reception by a first content distribution network CDN A of a request transmitted by a client entity relating to a content C, which is not available to the first network CDN A, the first network CDN A requests the content C from a second distribution network CDN B and obtains it in return.
If the second network CDN-B does not have the content C, it is provided that it contacts the content provider CSP B in order to store this content in a cache memory.
No other mechanism is currently provided.
Moreover, content distribution network manufacturers do not offer an interface which allows the distribution networks to communicate with one another. Thus, it is not generally possible to enable simple communication between two content distribution networks.